March Madness

If you thought getting healthcare reform passed was like passing a kidney stone, just sit back and watch as the carnage unfolds. To quote that famous Bachman Turner Overdrive song, “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet.”

Shouts of “Baby killer” being aimed at Bart Stupak; a Congressional map from Sarah Palin with crosshairs indicating Democrats to be targeted for defeat in November with a personal message imploring her readers on Twitter to “reload” and on facebook to “aim” at and “fire” those who voted for the bill; a suspicious package being delivered to Anthony Weiner’s office containing a white powder; death threats against Democratic members of Congress and even a few Republicans; a gas line cut in the home of the brother of a Democratic member of Congress.

Normally this would be the stuff of bad soap operas; alas such is not the case. The rage of the August Town Halls has come full circle. The insanity has begun again and this time it isn’t going to subside. Months and months of incendiary rhetoric from the Right has taken root and poisoned the minds of the gullible to such an extent that the fuse it has lit now threatens to blow up the whole damn nation. To the rational mind, this is a time to worry.

I have made no secret of my contempt for the right-wing media who deliberately mislead their viewers and listeners with distortions and lies. Whether it was decrying the path to socialism, fabricating claims of death panels, or underwriting astro-turf rallies, the non-stop, 24/7 onslaught, while it failed to stop reform, worked brilliantly to stoke the violence that now all too clearly resides in the hearts and minds of millions of Americans. These people are beneath contempt and there will undoubtedly be a special place in hell reserved for them when they depart this Earth.

To add insult to injury, the Right’s claim that they are somehow not responsible for these violent outbursts – that somehow these individuals, on their own, just decided to act deranged, show up at rallies with loaded weapons, sporting vulgar signs and shouting racist and derogatory slurs all without one iota of aid from them – is absurd and insulting. That there exists deranged people who are ignorant and frightened is one thing; that they can become this well organized without the assistance of an outside agency is quite another. Only a fool could fail to connect the dots.

Another insidious claim by the Right that the miscreants showing up at these rallies are merely the exceptions to the rule – that the vast majority of these people are law-abiding citizens who are simply expressing their concerns over the direction the country is headed – is NOT supported by the evidence. Find me the calm and collected among this group if you can. Oh, there might be a few sprinkled in among the throng. But far from being the exception, these marauders are the rule. They represent the heart and soul of a mob-like movement that is mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore. The problem with individuals who are that mad is that when they lash out you can’t always predict who they are likely to lash out against. That’s the problem with mob rule; ultimately it’s an oxymoron.

When challenged by critics, the Right’s response is predictable. This is all some conspiracy by the liberal media to kill a populist movement. All they seek is a platform to air their grievances, and anyone who dares question their motives is infringing on their freedom of expression, as if threatening a sitting President or Congressman is a matter of expression.

From the moment of his election, Barack Obama has been the target of a constant barrage of inane and outlandish claims, none of which have been borne out by the facts. He was to blame for the recession, even though it began well before the election; he was to blame for the TARP, even though his predecessor was responsible for implementing it; his stimulus was evidence of typical big government tax and spend liberal politics, even though many economists believed it was not large enough; his budget would balloon the deficit to unheard of heights, even though the last two two-term Republican presidents tripled and doubled the national debt respectively; his healthcare reform bill was branded as socialized medicine and a government takeover of the insurance industry, even though many progressives demanded a single-payer system and the insurance industry has been left relatively unaffected and intact.

Charge after charge is easily repudiated by a careful reading of the facts. But facts are not what is driving the bus over on the Right. Fear and hatred are stirring the pot of discontent. This isn’t politics as usual; it’s Munich incarnate. The only thing missing is the procession of brown shirts descending on the Capital. Scoff if you want; we have seen it happen before. The Tea Party movement, the hideous child monster of Dick Armey’s Freedom Works, is now fully self-actualized and, with the aid and comfort of the wingnuts on Fox News and most of the A.M. dial, is now massing for a date with destiny.

Get this straight: it is not peaceful coexistence that these tea partiers seek. Nothing less than total victory is permissible. They have cashed in on the nightmarish scenario woven by the demigods of misinformation and swallowed it hook, line and sinker. The Glenn Becks, Mark Levins and Sean Hannitys are their leaders now. They have no time or inclination for constructive dialogue; the intellectualism of William F. Buckley might just as well have been a figment of some idealistic dreamer’s imagination. Responsible conservatives like David Brooks, who call for collaboration, are shunned as being phony and traitorous to the cause. When David Frum is the one calling you out, you know you have problems.

The events of the last week are only a taste of what is ahead. Crazy does as crazy sees. While the tea partiers do not, thankfully, represent the opinion of the majority of Americans, theirs is the loudest and most obnoxious voice. As anyone who knows history even a little will tell you, if say something often and loud enough over time it will start to gain traction and momentum. It would be a tragic mistake to assume that this malignancy will peter out over time. If anything, it is growing. The damage has been done and the clock is ticking.

And what of the Republican Party? It is one thing for the deranged to burn down Rome; it is quite another for an entire political party to willingly pour the lighter fluid. The complicity of the Party of Lincoln and Eisenhower has been the most puzzling of all. One would think rational and clearer heads would prevail, but this is not a time for rational and lucid behavior. In what can only be described as the gamble of the century, the GOP is betting the ranch that this wave of hysteria will somehow propel them back into power in Washington. They are attempting to tap into and co-opt the rage of millions of people who neither know the truth of the matter, nor have the capacity to understand how they are being played for cheap political gain. Pawns have more say in how a chess game is played than these poor lost buffoons.

Moderates? One might as well look for water on the Moon. Any Republican who dares stand up to the party line is branded as a RINO (Republican in name only). How bad is it? John McCain – a four-term senator – is getting the fight of his life from the very party he represented in the ’08 Presidential campaign. Talk about gratitude! Ron Paul, a self-professed Libertarian, may well be the most lucid member of the GOP, and that is saying something. The party that once championed the abolition of slavery and worked with Democrats to bring about civil rights legislation has sunk to heretofore unheard of depths. Rather than work with Congressional Democrats to try to get a healthcare bill that was more to their liking, they decided to pick up their marbles and stay home. The Party of No has now become the Party of No Way Out. The only thing the GOP seems interested in these days is capitalizing on fear-mongering and reliving a past it should know full well never existed in the first place. Not even the Gipper himself could save this lot.

The shame of all this is that at a time when the country desperately needs boldness and balance in its political discourse, a party that could offer effective solutions would be a welcome sight. Instead what we have according to Bill Maher is a center-right party (the Democrats) and a crazy party (the Republicans); one is in the pocket of corporate America, the other in the pocket of the loons. Saints preserve us!

This is going to be one helluva long year. Before it is over we are going to witness stupidity on a massive scale. Republicans will no doubt run on repealing the healthcare bill; they will appeal to every frightened redneck and talk radio groupie who is convinced the government is out to get them. They will even net gains in both the House and Senate; perhaps even rest control from the socialist hordes. But in the end we will all lose. Because America, now more than ever, doesn’t need more ideologues who can’t see the forest for the trees; it needs visionaries who will challenge our perceptions of who we are and chart a course forward, not backward.

For all his perceived shortcomings by the Right, Barack Obama is still the best hope for the United States. He is, to quote David Brooks, “the most realistic and reasonable major player in Washington.” I would also add, perhaps a bit too pragmatic for some peoples’ tastes. But I would gladly take him over anyone the Republicans will bring to the table in 2012. Considering what’s in the cupboard, that isn’t much of a statement.

There is so much at stake. It would be a tragedy of epic proportions if this blight were to strike down this president and his agenda all in the name of fear and ignorance. Do not kid yourselves; the mood among many of their numbers is decidedly ugly and unlikely to change for some time. Such volatility is often a breeding ground for the kind of lunatics who would find it appealing to send a message and go out in a blaze of glory. It has been over four decades since this nation has witnessed an assassination of a sitting president. I pray we are all spared from having to live through that nightmare again.

Pass the Damn Bill!

Over the last year we have seen an intense and contentious debate on healthcare reform like no other debate in modern history. We have seen every conceivable argument both for and against reform from scuttling the current system in favor of a single-payer system (Medicare for All) to shouts of death panels and a government takeover of healthcare. And after all the political posturing and back and forth banter I have come to the only rational conclusion possible. As flawed as this current healthcare reform bill is, it is still the best effort to date to bring about change to a broken system, and on the whole it should be passed by the House and signed into law by the President.

Yes I know full well that many of the bill’s provisions do not kick in for up to four years, meaning many millions of people will still have to wait to receive the proper care they so desperately need; and yes I realize that with healthcare now mandated by law and enforceable through punitive measures, many of these people will be compelled to purchase insurance from the very same industry that treated them so despicably in the first place – a windfall for an industry that heavily lobbied against reform; and yes after all the hoopla over the numbers, there will still be more than fifteen million Americans without coverage after this bill gets signed into law.

Even with all that and more, this bill should still pass and for two reasons and two reasons only.

1. The mid-term elections are fast approaching. Democrats will almost certainly suffer losses; to what extent no one knows for sure. But whether they lose control of both Houses of Congress, one chamber, or just have their majority cut down in size, this much is certain: next year’s Congress will have no stomach or inclination to discuss, let alone vote, on healthcare reform. Whether anyone cares to admit it or not, this ship is leaving in 2010. The only decision is whether or not this bill makes it on board. An Opportunity like this – flawed as it is – comes once in a lifetime. Clinton’s big mistake was that he wanted his bill his way. Congress punted and the rest is history. Critics who contend that the GOP will make healthcare reform a major issue in the fall campaign are missing the point. No matter what the Democrats do, the GOP will come after them, big time. So long as you’re going to get roasted, you might as well be roasted for doing something.

2. The fear by many progressives that passing this bill means it is etched in stone is absurd. If history has shown us anything it is that politics, like human beings, evolves over time. Social Security and Medicare were far more cumbersome and far-reaching, and yet today’s programs bear little resemblance to what they looked like at their inception. There will be time to correct the flaws in this bill, either through reconciliation or later amendments to it. The point is to start somewhere. Paul Krugman has said that the bill “wouldn’t transform our health care system; in fact, Americans whose jobs come with health coverage would see little effect. But it would make a huge difference to the less fortunate among us, even as it would do more to control costs than anything we’ve done before.” He’s right.

The tragic flaw staring back at all of us is that in this current political climate it was naïve of us to believe we would ever get the bill we wanted. Yes, Barack Obama badly mismanaged this process; yes the wingnuts on the Right should be ashamed of themselves for the fear-mongering they sponsored over what basically amounts to a Massachusetts type of reform bill, but if in our zeal to get what we think is best, we end up killing this bill, then woe to us. It will not be the Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs who we will have to thank; it will be our own obstinance.

If Dennis Kucinich could be swayed to vote yes on this bill then maybe it is time we all came to our senses and realize what most moderates and pragmatists have learned all too well and what the Rolling Stones once sang in a famous song: “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need.”

This nation desperately needs healthcare reform, and it has needed it for several decades. The time for posturing and pandering to our basic fears and petty desires is over. If we miss this opportunity, the next one might not come for years, if at all.

Pass the damn bill!

Shame On You!

A new month beckons and with it another opportunity to shine the light of day into the squalor lives of individuals who so richly deserve the accolades accorded them. Certainly seems like a long way to travel to heap a ton of hurt onto the narrow shoulders of the despicable, but never let it be said I haven’t been guilty of occasionally laying it on a bit thick.

As in past months, the honorees went above and beyond to earn our collective wrath, but seldom as a Shame on You monthly awards segment highlighted such loathsome behavior. It was difficult picking a winner, so I’ll just let the chips fall where they may and allow God to sort it out later.

Bunning On Empty.

First up, Republican Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky, aka Pinhead. Like his fellow conservative colleague Richard Shelby, one of last month’s winners by the way who put a blanket hold on Obama Administration nominees, Bunning seems determined to let ideology rule out over common sense. He single-handedly held up a 30-day extension of unemployment and health benefits to millions of Americans, and for reasons only Bunning seems to have gotten.

Bunning says he held up the extension because the cost of it, approximately $10 billion, was not offset by cuts to other programs. In a nutshell – no pun intended – if the Senate is going to pride itself on passing "pay-as-you-go" legislation then Bunning has taken it upon himself to expose any approved unfunded spending, no matter who it hurts. Ironically, it was Bunning who opposed the very same “pay-as-you-go” legislation he now claims to be championing.

When confronted by Senate Democrats on the floor, Bunning had the nerve to complain that he was being made a victim for his stance and that he was missing a college basketball game; a game by the way he could’ve TiVo’d. Later he responded to one last plea for those affected by saying, “Tough shit. I’m trying to make a point to the people of the United States.”

Point taken, I guess.

While we have seen many examples of broken politics in Washington, this latest stunt beats them all. Bunning’s insensitivity underscores just how depraved some can get in their pursuit of partisan politics. While Bunning isn’t alone in his sentiment – Arizona Senator Jon Kyl went so far as to call it a “disincentive” to be on unemployment – he has unfortunately become the poster boy for the GOP as it attempts to obstruct just about any Democratic legislation coming down the pike. But this wasn’t some political nomination that was being held up for its own sake; this was a vital piece of legislation aimed at helping people caught in the worst recession in decades. Apparently the Party of No is now the Party of No Empathy and Bunning is its mascot.

It wasn’t until Senate Democrats called his bluff and were actually going to require him to personally filibuster the legislation, that Bunning backed down and withdrew his objection; but not before getting them to agree that one of his amendments get an up and down vote in the Senate. In what can only be described as poetic justice the amendment was defeated.

Congratulations pinhead, you’ve earned your stripes.

Fear and Loathing in America.
Next up we have “The Insane Right.” When Andrew Joseph Stack decided to do his own imitation of a kamikaze pilot and fly his plane into the I.R.S. building in Austin, Texas on February 18, he wasn’t just your typical lunatic out on a murder spree, he had a specific mission in mind: to take his wrath out on as many government officials as possible. His deep-seated hatred and contempt for anything connected to the government had been stewing for months and finally, like a volcano, could no longer be contained.

But Stack himself is not the principal cause for concern here. That there exists in this world people with severe emotional problems is a simple fact of life. The real alarm lies behind the impetus that is driving such people.

There is no polite and delicate way to put this. Stack and others of his ilk belong to a group, which is growing in numbers and fervor like a rash spreading throughout the body. For months now I have been writing about the lunatic right-wing fanatics, who are being co-opted by the Republican Party for the sake of cheap politics, and are acting like their own version of the Nazi Storm Troopers in Germany. I have warned about this malignancy spreading throughout the country. In Andrew Stack they finally have their martyr. I fear he will not be the last.

Frank Rich in a New York Times op-ed piece titled, “The Axis of the Obsessed and Deranged,” has correctly and appropriately drawn a comparison between the current Tea Party movement and the domestic terrorism of Timothy McVeigh.

“Anyone who was cognizant during the McVeigh firestorm would recognize the old warning signs re-emerging from the mists of history. The Patriot movement. "The New World Order," with its shadowy conspiracies hatched by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission. Sandpoint, Idaho. White supremacists. Militias.”

The pattern is repeating itself, only now it is far more intense and toxic. What had been born out of Dick Armey’s Freedom Works as an organized campaign against Obama and Congressional Democrats over healthcare reform, has morphed into yet another full-blown firestorm that is completely contemptuous of establishment politics and has set its sites on all of Washington. Like Frankenstein’s monster turning on its creator, the Tea Party movement has taken on a life of its own and is beholden to no one except its own insular interests and agenda. Its ideology is one in which paranoia and delusion are given priority over even a modicum of reason. As Rich adroitly pointed out, “That ideology plays to the lock-and-load nutcases out there, not just to the peaceable (if riled up) populist conservatives also attracted to Tea Partyism. This ideology is far more troubling than the boilerplate corporate conservatism and knee-jerk obstructionism of the anti-Obama G.O.P. Congressional minority.”

Gone is the intellectualism of William F. Buckley, replaced by the anti-elitism of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin: the new heroes of the new counter-conservatism. Their followers run the gamut from conspiracy theorists to anti-government zealots to Oath Keepers to John Birch Society Brown Shirts, sprinkled with just a tad of the usual disillusioned bystanders who are still suspicious of Washington, but who haven’t gone completely off the deep end yet.

Last August I wrote in a blog about Fascism, “Pathological dissent often reads like freedom of expression until it is turned up a few notches and it is given voice in the form of riotous hatred. In such instances, the ignorant and frightened are often manipulated and mobilized to act in manners they normally would not be prone to do.” In the Tea Party movement we have the perfect example of freedom run amuck. America’s version of the Nazi Storm Troopers: racist, myopic, and contemptuous of law and order. It is the reincarnation of the mob that turned on Brutus in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” only in this case it is the United States that is at peril from such mindless individuals.

Rational people often have a blind side when it comes to such groups. They see erratic and unbalanced behavior and dismiss it as being largely innocuous. The analogy they draw is that of a spoiled brat or an undisciplined child acting up and looking to draw attention to itself. It is best not to acknowledge the behavior lest you condone it. They see the Tea Partiers as a fleeting movement that will die of its own weight eventually. The problem with that thinking is that this movement is hardly shrinking; in deed it is growing by leaps and bounds. They are well organized, and many of them are equally well armed. The fervency of these people is unmatched by any other in recent memory and they are as unyielding as they are zealous. Far from your typical unruly child, this movement shows no signs of tiring out and grabbing a nap for itself. It is, if anything, loaded for bear. If the August Town Halls were any indication, we are in for one hell of a ride.